Preserving the country’s natural beauty and environment is at the very heart of the company’s ethos, investing in innovation and technology to operate as sustainably and efficiently as possible.
Some 12 months ago, Enviro NZ invested in landfill machine guidance technology at the Hampton Downs landfill in North Waikato. The site is one of the largest waste management facilities in the country, servicing a large part of the upper North Island, including Auckland.
Installed on the company’s two Tana fifty-tonne landfill compactors, Carlson Landfillgrade machine guidance technology was adopted to further enhance on-site safety and reduce machine operating hours through more efficient compaction.
Landfill Manager, Tim Page, said that the technology helps to protect workers on site by alerting them to areas they need to steer clear of like landfill gas infrastructure. “We can program geo-cached areas on site so our machine operators know what areas to avoid around key infrastructure,” he said.
If a machine approaches an avoidance zone, operators will be alerted via their in-cab console. Managers can also view the location of machines and set custom parameters and alerts to suit the site setup and safety requirements.
In addition to the safety benefits, Tim notes that the technology delivers accurate compaction data on actual compaction results. “Since implementing the technology, it’s been reassuring to see that our compactors are making efficient use of the available space with excellent compaction rates.”
Machine guidance technology enables managers to upload design files and desired compaction rates for the landfill site, that machine operators can follow with near real-time information inside the machine.
“Our operators are old-hands and are used to working by eye, however the Carlson system gives them live information about the heights and gradients they need to be working to, to eliminate the guesswork,” Tim said.
With near real-time information provided to the operators, Carlson machine guidance can help to reduce the number of passes and in turn the operating hours of the machine. The time, fuel, and machine wear savings over a period of time can be substantial.
As with all new technology, onboarding and learning a new system comes with its challenges, Tim explained. “Our machine operators and operations manager are still getting used to the technology and were a little hesitant about using it at first. It’s good to have that reassurance that the compaction rates are good and we’re working efficiently, now that we can accurately track the hours for each machine,” he said.
Support and training has been provided by Carlson’s Australian and New Zealand distributor, Aptella.
“The support from Aptella has been a big positive,” Tim said. “There were some challenges during Covid to get some face-to-face training, but whenever we’ve had questions or run into technical trouble, the team has been quick to action and help us. The communication has been very good,” he added.
We source, deploy and support intelligent positioning solutions to enhance our customers’ productivity.
Aptella Pty Ltd
ABN 56 130 367 065
